TCN Adds 600MW To National Grid

The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Thursday announced the addition of 600 megawatts to the national grid following the completion of a major transmission infrastructure project in Edo State.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, disclosed this during the commissioning of the Ihovbor/Benin and Ihovbor/Ajaokuta 330kV Turn-In-Turn-Out Transmission Line Project in Benin City.

Abdulaziz described the project as a significant milestone in efforts to strengthen the nation’s transmission network and improve electricity evacuation across the country.

“This project marks another milestone in our collective journey to strengthen the nation’s transmission network to enable us evacuate more bulk electricity from Ihovbor Transmission Substation to distribution load centres nationwide,” he said.

He explained that the project involved the strategic connection of the existing Benin/Ajaokuta 330kV transmission line to the Ihovbor Transmission Substation, resulting in two new transmission routes spanning about 14 kilometres.

According to him, the development has improved operational flexibility within the national grid and strengthened power delivery in the Benin corridor.

“With the completion of this strategic project, we have increased the operational flexibility of the transmission network and strengthened the resilience of power delivery within Benin corridor by this connection to the power plant,” he stated.

The TCN boss said the new transmission infrastructure would enhance the evacuation of electricity generated by the Azura Power Plant and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company plant.

He added that the project would also reduce transmission bottlenecks, improve system reliability and increase access to bulk electricity for distribution companies nationwide.

“The importance of this project cannot be overstated. It grants TCN the ability to more efficiently evacuate power generated by the Azura Power Plant and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company plant,” Abdulaziz said.

“This has equally helped in alleviating transmission bottlenecks, enhanced system reliability, while allowing the distribution companies access to more bulk electricity for its customers nationwide,” he added.

He further explained that the grid system would allow electricity generated from the Benin axis to be transmitted efficiently to other parts of the country.

“With the grid system, power generated from the Benin axis can easily be wheeled to any part of the country,” he said.

Abdulaziz said the project reflects TCN’s commitment to expanding and modernising the country’s transmission infrastructure through sustained collaboration and innovation within the power sector.

He noted that prior to the project, some generated electricity could not be evacuated effectively, but the new infrastructure would enable more power supply to Nigerians.

“Before there was power that was generated without evacuation, but now we are going to evacuate more power which means Nigerians would be getting more power supply,” he said.